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It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Where has this year gone? The older I get the quicker time passes — it’s starting to scare me.

I know times are hard. I hope our sports section has helped you forget about the day-to-day stresses in life and let you enjoy and celebrate the wide world of sports from our local county squads to your favorite college and pro teams. It’s therapeutic for me to share my thoughts with you ‘From the Sidelines.’ I’m grateful for your readership.

I hope you take a moment to focus on the things that really matter. I hope you have family close and will be able to enjoy their company and all the fun and time honored traditions associated with the season. When the chips are down, family is where it’s at. Let those you love know you care.

I’m sure a football game or two will sneak its way into your weekend. Be cautious and try to pace yourself at the sports table. When I was a kid, there were only two NFL games on Thanksgiving Day — one was always hosted by the Detroit Lions and the other by the Dallas Cowboys. There were always a few college games like USC vs. Notre Dame, but usually you had plenty of time to go hunting in the morning and play a game of football in the afternoon.

Not anymore. Like everything else, the pace has picked up and while those special games of yore are still here, they share the cyberspace with a smorgasbord of sports programming that has a tendency to interrupt family gatherings and turn everyone into twice-baked couch potatoes. Instead of playing in the Turkey Bowl after diner, we now sit around the new LED HD flat screen TVs and watch it played instead.

On Thanksgiving Day, the main course is still the Detroit Lions hosting the Green Bay Packers at 10:30 a.m. . Usually, the Detroit Lions game is a yawner, but not this year. The Lions are in second place and are looking to hand the Packers their first loss and contend for the NFC North Division title. Mid-afternoon the Dallas Cowboys host the Miami Dolphins at 2:15 p.m. My oldest son Aaron is a big Fish fan so this will be a must see at our house. The lone college football game will feature Texas and Texas A&M — yea, I know — great if you live in Texas. Closing out the day will be the San Francisco 49ers at the Baltimore Ravens. Kickoff is at 6:20 p.m. This will be interesting as it is the first NFL game to have brothers as opposing head coaches. Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers will face his older brother John Harbaugh of the Ravens. This sounds more like an NFL version of Family Feud — no peace and harmony around the Harbaugh’s Thanksgiving table.

After being filled with family, food and football for a day, you’ll start to fill the effects of HD over-indulgence, but wait — there’s more. On Friday there are 14 NCAA football games on every TV, iGadget and satellite dish nationwide. Utah is one of them, playing Colorado at Rice-Eccles Stadium. It’s a must win for the Utes to keep their division hopes alive. Game time is 1:30 p.m. Another big game is Arkansas vs. LSU at 12:30 p.m. This game has big BCS repercussions should Arkansas pull off the upset. You can bet Pat Ciervo, Grantsville High School’s athletic director, will have his Hog Hat on for this game. There is also Professional Hockey and NCAA basketball, so everyone help yourselves and tune-in.

Now that you’re digitally intoxicated, there are 38 more college football games on Saturday including the Utah State – Nevada game played in Logan. Kick-off is at noon For dessert you can take in the Notre Dame – Stanford game at 5 p.m. Andrew Luck is looking to put the cherry on top of his Heisman sundae with a win over the Irish.

There are more games of every kind on Saturday and Sunday but I’m out of space. Try to pace yourself and not over-indulge to much this weekend. Don’t forget you have family and friends that need your attention as well. Enjoy the time off and look forward to the holiday season and all the lights, sights, smells and sounds of Christmas — not to mention the bowl games! What happen to the good ole days? From our house to yours — God bless you all and thank you for sticking with the Tooele Transcript Bulletin in a digital world. Have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends! We’ll wave to you from the sidelines.

Gumby has been writing sports columns for the Tooele Transcript Bulletin for more than 10 years. His “From the Sidelines” column covers everything sports related whether local or international. Gumby is under assignment of Sports Editor Mark Watson and also contributes feature articles in other sections of the paper. He also is a free lance writer for other periodicals in Utah as well as in firearms and hunting magazines throughout the country. He also produces outdoor and sports videos. He is fluent in Japanese.

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